24 replies to this topic

[Keaton85]

Im riding in an 05 V70 N/A with 187k on the original TB!!!

Insane, anyone else have one longger?

[tchnprgrmr]

yup, as far as I know my belt was stock when I replaced it at 193k (bought at 189k).

the idler pulley moved and the belt tore a hole in the side cover(didn't fall off thankfully, but moved a good 1/2 way off)
had it "fixed", drove 250 miles to South Carolina, checked it and the belt had moved again, drove it all the way back to Jacksonville with the belt 1/2 way off and got it redone the correct way

luck was on my side that weekend, belt hasn't moved in the 40k miles since then

[Keaton85]

Nice! I had to swap my idler at 140k ob my T5 i picked up recently. They replaced the TB and tensioner but not the idler. It was unhappy!

[Ihatespeedbumps]

142k on a customer car is my record, nice save.

[Keaton85]

Im still working in trying to have the owner save this one but he doesnt care haha. I told him i will buy it when it goes...

No bearing noise though!

[Matty Moo]

145k on my MIL's s70. I'm replacing all of that and the entire front end this weekend.

[JRL]

I bought one with 150K on it, it was ready to fall off.
I don't understand how an owner can not do a T-belt at the proper interval and risk losing their engine

[cbpldc]

Wow. That is frightening. He could get many more years of faithful service out of it were he to only replace the timing belt. Some people just don't get it.

[KevinR]

I'm not brave enough to find out how long one can go. Whenever I look at a used Volvo (and many other cars, for that matter) my first question is: have you replaced the timing belt and can you produce documentation of it? Otherwise, I just assume it needs replacement and move on accordingly.

My wife's '04 C70 LT currently has 73k on the original belt. I'm probably going to take care of that one soon.

[Keaton85]

73k is still young though, 105K is the norm.

[andyb5]

I'd replace the original belt on any of these cars, even if it has "miles left" according to the service interval. As the belt ages, it can begin to deteriorate despite low miles.

A previous owner of my 99 R had the T-belt changed in 02 @ ~80k on it, and it was starting to fray when I bought it in Dec. @ 149k, so I replaced it right away.

[Keaton85]

There has never been a report of a belt failing ever on here. Only tensioner and idler failures...

[sjmcarz]

IMO, 80,000 miles should be the max for replacement of belt and related components.

[andyb5]

There has never been a report of a belt failing ever on here. Only tensioner and idler failures...

Tell that to the cracks and frayed cords in the timing belt I replaced. Not saying it is guaranteed to happen, but its something to keep in mind with an old, low mileage belt.

[Keaton85]

IMO, 80,000 miles should be the max for replacement of belt and related components.

On what grounds?

[Burn-E]

The statement for service is mileage / number of years. So replacing the belt and components before you hit the milestone (70k or 105k) if the car is past the age (7 years) is an appropriate action. And it's been demonstrated elsewhere that Volvo changed the interval to 105k miles not because the parts were superior but because they realized they could and thereby reduce the overall cost of ownership during the first 100k miles which is one of the metrics reviewers look at.

I experienced a failure at 138k miles, the tensioner failed but it goes to show that some percentage of cars will experience a failure prior to the milestone. Everyone says swap out the tensioner, pulleys, and water pump every second change but my experience shows that may be running on borrowed time.

[scumcity14]

My T5 had a sticker that said it had been done at 82k ( the car had 214k on it when I bought it) who knows if had been done a second time...my XC90 is at 115k..it will get done next month though.."fingers crossed" (also needs cam seals, crank seal, water pump etc..)

[Keaton85]

All my failures have been around 130-135K miles on the tensioner pulley. Belts were fine and still a major PITA to cut off, also I've never seen a show idler as of yet. Although like I said earlier my current V70 had the TB done but they didn't replace the idler, which I just replaced since my wife and I are on a road trip. The idler at 140K miles was still ok but needed to be changed out. You don't even need to take the timing belt off, just swap the idler while holding the belt over, works perfect and takes about 10mins.

As for age, I don't go by age, just miles. Personal preference, I guess as my experience has shown me it's more about miles and bearing condition then anything else. Also, I don't really care if I have to do a head job as it's nice to get the top ends cleaned up and new valve stem seals installed.

[volvos70turbo99]

I've heard the hydraulic tensioners are a lot more reliable than the mechanical ones, maybe so, mine was still going, it may have been the original at 168k, unless it was changed at 76k still thats 92k miles on the tensioner itself. Mine never made any noise either.

[98t5M]

Mine was changed by the P.O at like 73000 mi.
Then when I had my valve stem seals replaced at 110K (iirc) the idler pulley bearing was about to fall apart. I had all the timing components except water pump replaced at this time.
5-10K miles later the water pump started leaking. LOL

So in my experience ALL of the components should be replaced at every interval (which is 70K on the 98 and older cars.) Or at very least the water pump and idler should be pulled and inspected carefully. I have also heard the hydraulic tensioners are more reliable.